Fire yesterday in Abuja engulfed a
section of the building of the national headquarters of the Independent
Electoral Commission (INEC).
Eyewitnesses
said the fire started at 9.30 a.m., razing the office of the commission’s
Director of Voter Registry. Speaking on the incident, the INEC’s Director of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Mr Chidi Nwafor, said staff
members attempted to put out the fire without success. He explained that the
Federal Fire Service and the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) came to put off
the fire. ``The fire service and NEMA were promptly called in to join officials
of the commission, who responded to contain the fire,’’ he said. According to
him, the preliminary investigation showed that only documents and equipment in
the Voter Registry Director’s office are affected. “As I am talking to you it
is only the documents and equipment in the office that were burnt, but no life
was lost. “I can assure you that all the data on voter registration, election
items and other related data are intact and not even within the area of the
fire outbreak. There is no cause for alarm,” he said. The director said that the
relevant agencies had begun proper investigation into the cause of the fire. A
similar incident occurred on May 16, 2012 at the Electoral Institute, Abuja.
The NEMA Abuja
Operation officer, Ishaya Chonoko told Daily Trust that the fire only destroyed
some parts of the office.
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Politics